The great Brexit betrayal has begun — Tories have sold out the British people — Nigel Farage

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is offering a “tougher line” on free movement than the Government, Nigel Farage has said, as he claimed the Tories had “sold out” their supporters.

In what he described as the “great Brexit betrayal”, the former Ukip leader said those who voted to leave the European Union in last year’s referendum would feel “cheated” by a transitional Brexit deal.

International Trade Secretary Liam Fox said on Sunday that it was “not a huge deal” if transitional arrangements when Britain quits the EU last up until 2022.

But Mr Farage, writing in the Daily Telegraph, said arguments about the need for a transitional period were a “re-run of an argument advanced by the Remain side last year, which was dramatically rejected by the electorate”.

He said Brexit supporters were “not in denial over immigration” and wrote: “For a nation to rise up against the establishment and secure a historic victory, only to have its hopes thwarted by an out-of-touch elite, is a recipe for dangerous division.

“It is strange to think that Jeremy Corbyn is now offering a tougher line than the Government when he says he would ban the wholesale importation of low-skilled EU workers.

“Is this a ploy to damage Theresa May, much as the late Labour leader John Smith cynically opposed the Maastricht treaty in 1992?”

Mr Farage said the message on migration from Cabinet ministers had changed since the referendum.

“Although the modern Tory party has a dreadful track record when it comes to immigration, last summer things looked brighter.

He added: “The old alliance of big business and a Tory government is booming again.

“Meanwhile Tory supporters, who have voted loyally in successive elections for manifestos that promise to drastically cut numbers, have been sold out.”

Mr Farage added: “My hopes that this government had learnt the lessons of the referendum, and understood that open-door immigration and its effects matter more to voters than any other issue, have for now evaporated.

The government is poised to cheat the British people of the Brexit they voted forCREDIT:EPA/STEPHANIE LECOCQ

When I heard that the government minister Lord Prior had told a meeting of tech and insurance leaders last week that they shouldn’t worry about barriers to entry for future employees from the EU, I thought he’d gone too far. How could a Brexit administration elected on a promise of reducing net migration to the tens of thousands tolerate such behaviour? Surely Lord Prior would be sacked?

Instead, it got worse. A new Cabinet consensus around transitional arrangements has been unveiled. Under it, open borders will be maintained for a minimum of two years after we finally leave the EU in 2019. Britain will have to wait until at least 2021 – five years after the Brexit referendum – to take back control. Millions who voted Leave will feel cheated, and rightly so: it’s clear the great Brexit betrayal has begun.

Although the modern Tory party has a dreadful track record when it comes to immigration,….